Color comparator



mass REFERENCE SEARCH ROWE Nov. 19, 1940. J. w. FORRESVT EIAL COLOR COMPARATOR 2 Sheeiis-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 2:, 1938 JOHN W.FORREST .HAROLD W.STRAAT v -INVEN BY 1940- J. w. FORREST ETAL COLOR COMPARATOR- Filed Dec. 23, 1938 2 Sheets-Shee 2 FIG. 2

JOHN w. FoRREsT HAROLD w. STRAAT Patented Nov. 19, 1940 oonoa oomm'roa John w. Fol-mt, Brighton. and Harold w. Straat, lrondequoit, N. Y., assignors to Banach 8r Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, N. Y.. a corporation of New York Application December 23, 1938, Serial No. 247,436

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to opticalinstruments and more particularly to optical instruments for comparing a sample with a standard color chart for determining the color of the sample in terms of the standard chart.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a new and improved color comparator. Another object is to provide a color comparator in which both the standard chart and the sample are simultaneously scanned. A further object is to provide an optical system for simultaneously scanning or integrating two adjacent object fields. Still another object is to provide a color comparator in which a sample and a standard are imaged in contiguous fields in the same plane and both images are simultaneously scanned or integrated. These and other objects and advantages reside in certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts as will hereinafter be more fully set forth and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of our improved colo comparator with parts in section.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the optical system of the instrument.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic showing of the optical system. I

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a typical standard color chart.

The present invention relates to a color comparator of the type described and claimed in U. S. Patent No. 2,054,195 issued September 15, 1936 to John W. Forrest and Gustave Fassin.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in designates a base upon which are mounted two spaced supports ii and I2 carrying tables l3 and I3, respectively. A pillar I5 extends upwardly from the base In between, but out of alignment with the tables l3 and i4 and a horizontal tubular housing 16 is secured at the top of the pillar ii. The ends of this housing l6 extend over the tables 13 and i4 and openings l1 are formed in the bottom of the housing adjacent the ends thereof, in

alignment with the tables l3 and H.

The bottom of the housing I8 is recessed around each opening I1 as indicated at It to receive an annular plate IQ of resilient material. Two vertical light tubes 23 and 2| engage the plates I 9 and the tubes 26 and 2| and plates is are secured to the housing l6 by screws or bolts 22. These light tubes 26 and 2| are concentric with the openings l1 and coaxial with the tables l3 and M, respectively. The bottoms of these tubes 20 and 2! are flared outward above the tables l3 and H to form concave reflectors 23 and 24, respectively, and a plurality of light sources 25 are located within the reflectors 23 and 24. A reflector 26 is adiustably mounted on each light source 25 for selectively directing the light 6 down on the tables l3 and M or up against the concave reflectors 23 and 24. These reflectors 23 and 24 are preferably painted white to provide diffuse illumination for the tables I 3 and M.

A septum 21 carried by the pillar 5 prevents 10 light from the lamps in reflector 23 from reaching the table It and light from the lamps in refiector 24 from reaching the table i3.

In alignment with each opening I1 is a prism mount 29 having a flange 30 which extends out- 15 ward over the edge of the opening I1. Four levelling screws 3! are threaded throughthe flange 33 to permit each mount 29 to be'adjusted so that its prism is properly positioned with respect to its table and also to the optical elements of the in- 20 strument: The top of the mount is recessed at 32 to receive a. right angle prism 33, and a leaf spring 36 secured to the mount by screws or. bolts 35 bears against the prism 33 to hold it in the recess 32. The lower part of each mount23 ex- 25 tends down through the opening i1 and is secured to the plate l9 by screws 28, the resilient character of the plate l9 permitting it to conform to the position of'the mount to form a dust shield;

The two prisms 33 face each other and direct the 30 light from the tables i3 and I4 along a common axis.

Located substantially midway between the prisms 33 and on the optical axis thereof is an optical combining system. This system consists 35 of two rightangle prisms 36 and 31 with their hypotenusefaces at right angles and their front faces 4i and 43, respectively, lying in substantially the same plane. Between the prism 36 and the adjacent prism 33 is a lens 38 and a substantially identical lens 39 is located between the prism 31 and the adjacent prism 33. The surface 40 of the prism 36 is curved and this curved surface 46, together with the lens 38 forms an image of the table l3 in the prism face ii. The 45 prism 31 is similarly curved at 42 to image the table it in the prism face 43.

In one satisfactory combining system, the lenses 38 and 33 were formed of glass having an index of 1.523 and a reciprocal relative dispersion 50 of 58.6. The lenses 38 and 39 were piano convex with a curvature of 27.8 mm. and were spaced 37.45 mm. from the prisms 36 and 31, respectively. The prisms 36 and 31 were formed of glass having an index of 1.517 and a reciprocal relative dis- 55 persion of 64.5 and the surfaces 44 and 42 each had a curvature of 20.7 mm. Of course, the powe s of these lenses may be widely varied but the a ve example was found convenient and in- ..expensive to make and the resulting images were of convenient size. The resulting images were formed substantially in the plane of the prism faces 4| and 43 and hence were substantially contiguous and coplanar.

- In practice it has been found that it is frequently desirable to scan or integrate not only the standard chart but also the sample. Inequalities of color between various portions of the sample give uncertain results and, when the sample under examination is a granular or lumpy substance such as cofiee, inequalities of shade or color due to uneven illumination are almost unavoidable. For this reason, we provide an optical system which simultaneously scans or integrates the images of both tables.

One suitable form of scanning or integrating system comprises an electric motor 45 mounted on the front wall of the housing l6. This motor has a hollow rotatable shaft 46, the axis of which is perpendicular to the plane of the faces 4| and 43 of the prisms 36 and 31. The axis of this shaft 46 passes through the line joining the two prism faces 4| and 43. A lens 41 is mounted within the shaft 46 with the prism faces 4| and 43 substantially at one focus thereof.

A tube 48 is carried by the motor 45 in axial alignment with the 'shaft 46 and a biprism 49 is fixed in this tube 46 at substantially the other focus of the lens 41. This biprism 49 is positioned so that-its edge is parallel to theline joining the two prism surfaces 4| and 43. The biprism 49 is of such power that the rays from the centers of the images of the tables l3 and I4 are deflected and made parallel to the common axis of the shaft 46 and tube 48.

A second tube 59 is telescopically mounted in the tube 43. This tube 59 carries a lens 5| and the tube 50 is adjusted until the biprism 49 is located at the focus of the lens 5|. A small eyepiece diaphragm 52 is located at the other focus of the lens 5| and, if desired, a suitable filter 52' can be placed at this diaphragm. Thus the lens '41 reimages the two tables 3 and I4 at infinity,

the biprism alters the direction of the light beams in such manner that the lens 5| forms the images in superposition at the diaphragm 52. Looking into the diaphragm, the observer does not see a focused image but sees two contiguous illuminated fields.

' The operation of this optical scanning or integrating system can be best understood from Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings. If the lens 41 were centered relative to the axisof the system, as shown in dotted lines, the centers A,

'B of the two images would be reimaged at the diaphragm 52 and rotation of the lens 41 would haveno; effect. However, when the lens 41 is decentered as shown in full lines in Fig. 3, points C,D of the two images will be reimaged at the diaphragm 52. These points C, D are spaced frornthe center points A, B and rotation of the lens 41 about the optical axis "of the system will cause a scanning or integrating of the images.

The amount of decentratlon of the lens 41 is vari-' able within rather wide limits. The greaterthe amount of decentration, the greater will be the distance between the center of the image and the point relmaged at the diaphragm. The

maximum decentration is thus limited by the size of the image. The minimum decentration is limited by the mechanical construction of a standard color. chart as will be hereafter described.

In one suitable scanning or integrating -system, the lens 41 is an equi-convex lens of glass of an index of 1.523 and a reciprocal relative dispersion of 58.6 having a curvature of 52.7 mm. This lens is spaced 50 mm; from the prism surfaces 4| and 43. The lens 41 is 2.5 mm. of! center. The biprism is formed of glass of an index of 1.517 and a reciprocal relative dispersion of 64.5 and its prism angle is 837 10". prism 49 is placed 50 mm. in front of the lens 41.

' The lens 5| may be a two inch achromat and Thisbicave surface has a radius of 42 mm. The positive lens component of the achromat is of glass of an index M1523 and a reciprocal relative dispersion of 58.6. The free surface of this positive lens has a curvature of 25.8 mm. The diaphragm 52 is spaced 50 mm. from the achromat 5| and is preferably small. An opening of 1.9 mm. is adequate.

The standard color chart may consist of a plurality of disks 53, 54 and 55 arranged in overlapping relation on the table l3. These disks are of different hue, saturation or brightness and are secured on the table l3 by a suitable nut 56. The decentration of the lens 41 must therefore be sufllcient to displace the image of the disks by an amount equal to the radius of the nut 56 plus the radius of the image of the eye opening in the diaphragm 52 as projected backwardly through the optical systems of the instrument onto the standard or the sample table. An angular scale 51 around the disks 53, 54 and 55 provides a ready meansfor determining the amounts of each color present.

In operation, the motor 45 is actuated at a suitable speed rotating the lens 41 and the shaft 46 about the axis of the shaft 46. This causes the images formed by the lens 41 to move and, when the speed of rotation is sufllciently great, the images are integrated so that each field appears to be of uniform color.

It may be necessary or desirable to observe a sample which is smaller than usual and is smaller than the scanned or integrated circle. In this event, it would be necessary to change the radius of the scanned circle. In order to accomplish this change, a horizontal transverse track 60 is secured within the casing l6. A lens mount 6| is slidably mounted on this track and carries an equi-concave lens 62 and a piano convex lens 63. The surfaces of the lens 62 have a curvature f 26.15 mm. and the lens 63 has a curvature of 33.6. Both lenses are formed of glass of an index of 1.523 and a reciprocal relative dispersion of 58.6. The lenses 62 and 63 are separated in the mount 6| by 48.0 mm. These lenses 62 and 63 may be moved into or out of the optical axis by a handle 64 and, when they are in the optical axis, the lens 62 is spaced about 8.0 mm. from the lens 39. The lenses 62 and 63 combine with the lens 39 and surface 42 to form an objective of longer focal length than the lens system 39 and 42, alone. The conjugate focal planes of the new objective system are the same as those of lens 39 and surface 42, that is, at the table l4 and at the surface 43. Thus, the lenses 62 and 63 change the size of the scanned or integrated circle without affecting the position of the image.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that we are able to attain the objects of our invention and providea color comparator in which both a sample and a standard are simultaneously integrated or scanned. While the invention is described with reference to a standard color chart. obviously two samples could be placed on the tables l3 and I4 and compared. Various modifications can, of course, be made without departing from the spirit of our invention or the scope of the appended claims.

' We claim: 1 l5 1. In a color comparator for comparing a sampie with a standard, the combination of an optical system for forming images of said sample and standard in contiguous fields substantially in a common plane with a second optical system for viewing and simultaneously scanning both of said fields, said second optical system being positioned in front of said fields with its optical axis perpendicularly and centrally located with respect to said fields and comprising a decentered lens element on said axis adjacent said fields for imaging the fields at .infinity and for scanning the fields, said element being rotatably mounted on said axis for rotation at a speed sufiicient to integrate both of the fields, driving means connected to said element for rotating it at integrating speed, a biprism spaced along said axis in front of said element and in operative relation thereto for altering the direction of the light beams from the fields and for bringing the beams into substantial parallelism, a diaphragm for viewing said fields located on said axis in front of said biprism, and a collective lens located on said axis between the biprism and the diaphragm for receiving the beams passing through the bio prism and for forming images of said fields at said diaphragm.

2. A color comparator for comparing a sample with a standard, comprising an optical system for forming images of said sample and standard 5 in contiguous fields substantially in a common plane, movable optical means selectively insertable within said system for varying the size of one of said images, and a second optical system so of said images. said second optical system being i bothofsaidimascs. for viewing. and mmultaneously scanning both positioned in front of said fields with its optical axis perpendicularly and centrally located with respect to said fields and having a decentered lens element on said axis adjacent said fields for imagingthe fields at infinity and for scanning 5 the fields, said element being rotatably mounted on said axis for rotation at a speed sufficient to integrate both of the fields, driving means connected to said element for rotating it at integrating speed, a biprism spaced along said axis in 10 front of said element and in operative relation thereto for altering the direction of the light beams from the fields and for bringing the beams into substantial parallelism, a diaphragm for viewing said fields located on said axis in front 15 of said biprism, and a collective lens located on said axis between the biprism and the diaphragm for receiving the beams. passing through the biprism and for forming images of said fields at 20 said diaphragm.

3. A color comparator for comparing a sample with a standard, comprising means for forming images of said sample and said standard in substantially contiguous fields in substantially the same plane, a decentered objective lens rotatable 25 about an axis which passes through its mechanical center and which is perpendicular to the plane of the fields and which'bisects a line joining the centers of said fields, said objective lens being positioned in front of said fields and spaced 30 therefrom by a distance substantially equal to its focal length, a biprism spaced from said obiective lens by a distance equal to the focal length of the objective lens and positioned so that said axis passes through the center of the 85 dividing edge of'said prism, said prism being also positioned so that its dividing edge is at right angles to a line Joining the centers of said fields. a collective lens axially spaced from the bi'prism by a distance equal to its focal length so and positioned so that said axis passes through its optical center, a diaphragm axially spaced from the collective lens by a distance equal to the focal length of the collective lens and positioned so that said axis passes through the center of the diaphragm and means for rotating said objective lens at a speed suificient to Antegrate JOHN w. manner. nsaom w. s'mss'r. so 

